It
was a cunning strategy designed to split the broad Democratic coalition
that had supported the New Deal and Great Society, by using the
cleavers of racial prejudice and economic anxiety. It also conveniently
fueled resentment of government taxes and spending.

The
strategy also served to distract attention from the real cause of the
working class’s shrinking paychecks — corporations that were busily
busting unions, outsourcing abroad, and replacing jobs with automated
equipment and, subsequently, computers and robotics.

But
the divide-and-conquer strategy is no longer convincing because the
dividing line between poor and middle class has all but disappeared.
“They” are fast becoming “us.”... Three decades of flattening wages and
declining economic security have taken a broader toll..., unexpected
poverty has become a real possibility for almost everyone these days.
And there’s little margin of safety. ...

Race is no longer a dividing line, either. ... Most people are now on the same losing side of the divide. ...

Which
means Republican opposition to extended unemployment insurance, food
stamps, jobs programs, and a higher minimum wage pose a real danger of
backfiring on the GOP. ... It’s not hard to imagine a new political
coalition of America’s poor and working middle class, bent not only on
repairing the nation’s frayed safety nets but also on getting a fair
share of the economies’ gains.